QANTAS Yarn Art

Rainbow Dreaming

NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee) Week begins from Sunday 3 July until the following Sunday. It celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

With great respect I share a small part of the Indigenous story:

"In the Dreaming, the world was flat, bare and cold. The Rainbow Serpent slept under the ground with all the animal tribes in her belly waiting to be born. When it was time, she pushed up, calling to the animals to come from their sleep. She threw the land out, making mountains and hills and spilled water over the land, making rivers and lakes. She made the sun, the fire and all the colours."

To celebrate NAIDOC week, Rainbow Dreaming will honour the Rainbow Serpent as part of our respect for the world's oldest living culture. In the QANTAS Sydney headquarters area known as The Street, seven trees will be clad in yarn art in a rainbow of colour, weaving us along the colour spectrum from side to side in an extended 'S' or serpentine shape.

As the story of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is an ongoing story, both the a traditional white stripe of Indigenous art and modern coloured stripes are used. This plays homage both to the past custodians of our land as well as the current and future guardians forging their path.

Each tree is a single colour stressing the rainbow idea. This is emphasized by pompoms hanging from the branches like balls of colour falling to the ground to paint the world. While the colours remind us of the rainbow, they also stir memories of Australian nature: vast blue skies, bursts of red banksia, pink galahs, red dust, orange paper daisies, green leaves, purple orchids, golden wattle, termite mounds, flocks of outback budgerigars, the yellow flash of sulphur-crested cockatoos and turquoise seas.

Each tree will be decorated with small circles based on indigenous symbols in art for campsite, watering hole or meeting place. This amazing space in QANTAS headquarters is in itself the meeting place of many people of a wide variety of cultures and ideas.

It is my hope that the joyful colour of the work reflects our celebration of our indigenous peoples and their rich culture, stories and achievements.